Seyss-Inquart contends that he was not responsible
for many of the crimes committed in the occupation of the Netherlands
because they were either ordered from the Reich, committed by the
Army, over which he had no control, or by the German Higher SS and
Police Leader, who, he claims, reported directly to Himmler. It is
true that some of the excesses were the responsibility of the Army,
and that the Higher SS and Police Leader, although he was at the
disposal of Seyss-Inquart, could always report directly to Himmler.
It is also true that in certain cases Seyss-Inquart opposed the
extreme measures used by these other agencies, as when he was largely
successful in preventing the Army from carrying out a scorched earth
policy, and urged the Higher SS and Police Leaders to reduce the
number of hostages to be shot. But the fact remains that
Seyss-Inquart was a knowing and voluntary participant in War Crimes
and Crimes against Humanity which were committed in the occupation of
the Netherlands.

Conclusion

The Tribunal finds that Seyss-Inquart is guilty
under Counts Two, Three, and Four. Seyss-Inquart is not guilty on
Count One.

SPEER

Speer is indicted under all four Counts. Speer
joined the Nazi Party in 1932. In 1934 he was made Hitler's architect
and became a close personal confidant. Shortly thereafter he was made
a department head in the German Labor Front and the official in
charge of capital construction on the staff of the deputy to the
Führer, positions which he held through 1941. On 15 February
1942, after the death of Fritz Todt, Speer was appointed Chief of the
Organization Todt and Reich Minister for Armaments and Munitions
(after 2 September 1943, for Armaments and War Production). The
positions were supplemented by his appointments in March and April
1942 as General Plenipotentiary for Armaments and as a member of the
Central Planning Board, both within the Four Year Plan. Speer was a
member of the Reichstag from 1941 until the end of the war.

Crimes against Peace

The Tribunal is of opinion that Speer's
activities do not amount to initiating, planning, or preparing wars
of aggression, or of conspiring to that end. He became the head of
the armament industry well after all of the wars had been commenced
and were under way. His activities in charge of German armament
production were in aid of the war effort in the same way that other
productive enterprises aid in the waging of war; but the Tribunal is
not prepared to find that such activities involve engaging in the
common plan to wage